Day 12 - To Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

We drove to the Blue Mountains today.  Second driving excursion.  If I say so myself, I am getting better.  I didn't turn on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal until we were almost out of Sydney.  The inadvertent windshield wipe for a turn signal occurrences are way down in this tourist's vehicle.  The agent at the Budget store that checked the car out to us loves American football (played 11 years) and unfortunately loves the 49ers.  But he's not a big Colin Kapernick fan.  He knows a lot about the Rams, too.  So, we talked about the draft and who the Rams got.

But before we did that, we met our fellow brekky brunchers from yesterday morning.  We told the story of our days.  They had a real mom/daughter day - spa, shopping, dinner, and a play.   We were still pretty happy about our bridge climb.

The drive to the Blue Mountains is pretty, but much more developed than the one from Melbourne to Apollo Bay, even if you manage to actually drive the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay.  It reminded me of driving divided highways when I was a kid.  But the area is cleaner and prettier Than any I traveled at home.

So, the GPS lady did us right this time.  We got to our appointed place, Lilianfels.  The place was built by Sydney Chief Justice, Sir Frederick Darley.  He had a number of daughters and one of them Lilian, was suffering from tuberculosis.  Sir Frederick wanted to build the house so Lilian could spend time in the mountains.  She died before the house was completed, but the complex remains named in her honor.

Quite the luxurious hotel.  Here is a view of the Blue Mountains from our room.  And a real billiards table.  No pool shark to name the room (or even the hotel) after.

We then walked over to the Blue Mountains National Park.  Another World Heritage location.  And another rain forest.  Thousands of Eucalyptus trees and smells like it.  The haze in the area gives a blue hue to anything you see in the distance.  Beautiful.  Lots of flora and fauna.  We saw the flora.  Heard the fauna, but weren't too good about spotting it.

Here is some flora along the walk and overlooking the Jamison Valley.

 Wentworth Falls.

And some fauna, if only tourist fauna.

Here is a picture of the Three Sisters.  Aboriginal legend tells the story that a father imprisoned his three daughters to protect them from a bunyip (a mythical monster that lived in bogs and swamps).  Gee thanks, dad.

After the 4 kilometer walk/hike along the Prince Somebody or Others Name Cliff Walk, we made it back to the visitor center where Rene had her third flat white of the day.  She loves her flat whites, a shot of espresso, infused with steamed, hot (not frothed) milk.  We got a laugh at the counter.

The area around the park is residential.  We are out some ways.  Not as remote as Apollo Bay or Port Douglas, but remote.  One reason why we couldn't blog yesterday.  Difficult to get on line.  Here's a picture of a home along the road and the locals' spam app.

We ate at Darley's, the restaurant at the hotel.  Had an amazing dinner there.  After dinner, back to the hotel and listened to the piano player who had performed at some point in his career with Olivia Newton-John.  He was very talented.  I had the best Pimm's Cup I have ever had.  And the most expensive, but as long as it is one, it was worth it.  All in all, another wonderful place in the country.

Over to Leura tomorrow and take a hike through the rain forest close to the bottom of the valley.

Cheers!